A dental assistant comes out, she's pretty with long black hair and brown eyes. "Stanley Marsh?" She calls out.
Stan groans. "Ugh no... not the pretty one. I look like shit."
Sharon comes back to help her son. "Will you be okay, sweetie? You want Kyle to go with you?"
Kyle pats his shoulder. "I'll look after him. Trust me, dude?"
The dental assistant smiles at Stan. "Hi I'm Maya. I know you need special accommodations today."
Stan tries to smile at her, but it comes out as a grimace.
She leads him back into the clinic and into a chair. "Are you in a lot of pain after your surgery?"
"Uh huh." Stan says face red. He almost trips as he sits down in the seat.
"Can you tell me a little bit about what happened so I can mark it in your chart?" Maya pulls out the computer.
"Uh huh." Stan says again.
Kyle looks at him. "Damn where to begin."
"I had some heart problems and had surgery last week. Totally fine now. Yep." Stan winces in pain.
Maya doesn't look up from the computer. "What kind and what complications? We have to be extra careful with germs from your teeth after something so sensitive."
Stan frowns and looks away, embarrassed.
Kyle steps in to explain. "It started off with a cardioversion. They attempted to zap his heart rhythm back in place. He was fine for a few days after but then." Kyle trails off, he isn't quite sure how to bring up the violet place to a stranger. "He crashed, had to have emergency heart surgery."
"Oh, you poor thing. Glad you're feeling better." Maya says, she pats Stan on the hand, he yanks it away.
"I'm not." Stan says flatly.
"The name of your diagnosis and any medication you're on?" Maya asks.
"I dunno some rhythm thing." Stan shrugged, uncomfortable.
"He's on Tylenol for pain, I know that." Kyle says.
Maya looks between the boys. "I'm going to head to the office to pull the exact hospital records. Might take a minute but better to get the adjustment done today but we need exact records to not aggravate any complications. Give me about ten minutes, boys?" She pats Stan on the hand again and goes out of the cubicle to the front office.
Kyle pats his shoulder. "Feeling okay so far dude?"
"No dude I feel worse. It's embarrassing and...scary to have to explain everything to the dental assistant. And I got the hot one. What if they adjust my braces and it makes my heart stop or something?" Stan's panic sets in and he makes a move to get out of the chair. "Fuck no."
Kyle places his hands on his shoulders and forces him down. "Don't even think about it, Stan. That's not going to happen."
"I can't do this. I can't. This place smells like the hospital. It's going to kill me. Told you I didn't want to go back." Stan's breath catches in his throat as he tries to get up again against Kyle's grip on his shoulders.
"Stan, stop. I mean it!" Kyle says firmly. "You can't work yourself up like this. I'm sorry but you have a lot of doctors to see in the coming months. You can't back out of these appointments."
"No please. I'm going to die again. I can't do it. Can we come back next month or something? It's too fucked up." Stan pushes against Kyle again which causes Kyle's hand to slip and go against his chest. Stan clutches himself and lets out a little cry, tears filling his eyes.
Kyle steps back for a second before giving him a hard look. "Dude, I'm sorry. Really, I am. But don't expect me to soften up like your mom might. I need to stay firm here. You need to get this shit done. Be pissed off at me all you want later but for now you need to do this. You faced off whaling ships dude. You went to the violet place twice. You got this Stan."
Stan reaches out for the heart pillow, staring at the ceiling. He's disgusted with the smell of the dental office. "You're...right. Fuck you. You're right." Stan tries to breathe in, trying to think of anywhere but here. He wipes his eyes.
"Sorry dude but I gotta stand ground here. For your best interest." Kyle sits back down next to him.
"You're so lucky you don't have braces." Stan mutters.
Kyle smiles. "I am? there's the smallest bit of crowding in my top back teeth. Left side. a couple there are tighter than the rest but overall, nothing of concern."
"You're lucky you didn't have heart surgery." Stan doesn't look at him.
"I did have a kidney transplant you idiot." Kyle says.
"You're lucky you didn't have to go to the dentist right after your kidney transplant." Stan says.
"Guess so." Kyle shrugs. "Remember how pissed off you were? Telling me you had a couple cavities after using that all-natural toothpaste?"
"It was the toothpaste's fault. It's probably the toothpaste's fault I'm here right now. Damn how can you be so calm after a kidney transplant at eight years old? I feel like I'm falling apart." Stan grabs Kyle's hand.
"I don't know. It just had to be done so I was all for it if it meant saving my life." Kyle squeezes his hand.
"That's a good attitude to have. Sorry I'm not as together as you. You saved my life. Fuck..." Stan says sadly.
"You saved mine too. I got you no matter what." Kyle tells him.
Kyle pats his back as the pretty assistant returns.
"We have your records now. I'm so sorry. You're a lucky kid." Maya smiles at him. Stan just looks away.
"We don't have to change up too much to do the braces adjustment, take extra care with your cleaning and be gentle with your chest area. I see the hospital already has you on antibiotics which is good." Maya continues.
"Ugh." Stan groans.
Kyle looks over. "This is my first time here for this kind of thing. I'm not sure what a braces adjustment is. I just know Stan gets crabby after."
"Ugh." Stan says again. "You're interested in this too, aren't you?"
"Well, it is a part of the body." Kyle shrugs.
Maya smiles. "We're going to remove the plastic bands from his teeth, then we're going to remove that metal wire, then do a floss and cleaning. we'll be extra careful. The dentist and orthodontist will do an exam and we'll put in a new wire and bands. You get to choose the color of the bands, Stan."
"Whoopee." Stan says flatly.
Kyle laughs. "You really are a metal mouth dude. So what colors are you getting this time?"
"Violet and blood red." Stan says sarcastically. He can see Maya grab the colors already from the drawer but doesn't care to say he was kidding. Maybe he wasn't.
"You'll be careful with him, right?" Kyle asks. "He needs to hold onto his pillow for support when he leans back."
It saved your life, don't be a fucking baby. "Yeah, I have these burns on each side and a big healing incision down the middle of my chest. So, you or the doctors can't lean on me even a little bit because it will hurt."
"I will be careful, and you tell me or move your hand if you need to stop any time during the adjustment." Maya reassures him.
"I have this heart pillow because the hospital gave it to me. It's the right shape and hardness to protect my chest. I'm not just a wuss." Stan says.
"I wouldn't think that you're very brave for what you went through and you're strong for still showing up for the braces adjustment." Maya says.
Kyle looks worried as Stan's chair is lowered back. "I want to make sure he keeps up with his appointments. I know it's for the best, even if it sucks."
"Thanks, mom." Stan says.
"My pleasure, son." Kyle crosses his arms. "Can I sit here and watch, Miss Maya?"
"Sure of course." She holds up a hook. "I'm going to grab this little tool here and pull off all of the bands. I'll be careful not to touch Stan's chest while I slide the bands off. Some people say it's satisfying to watch."
"Hah! Satisfying." Stan says.
"Ready?" Maya asks.
"Let's get this over with." Stan braces himself with the heart pillow.
"Look over here Kyle as I slip off the blue and red bands. Just like this." She starts to slip off the bottom row.
"You gotta stop getting red and blue dude. Let me pick out your next elastics!" Kyle smirks.
"Green and orange are ugly together." Stan mumbles back.
"No, it's not. Then just do green." Kyle frowns.
"As you can see the bands just slide off the hook. Once I'm done, we can just discard these." Maya holds up the hook with the top row of bands on it.
"That's kind of cool... I didn't realize it slides off so easily." Kyle looked over.
"Motherfucker." Stan mumbles again.
"Need a break, Stan?" Maya asked.
Stan shakes his head
"Okay, now I'm going to do the bottom row." Maya removes the bands and starts on the bottom row.
Kyle leans in to watch, careful not to get in the way.
Stan starts to cough a bit, feeling claustrophobic. He pushes away and tries to sit up. Maya suctions him quickly. "Dude Kyle, I'm not some specimen."
"Sorry Stan. Can't help but watch. It's cool." Kyle sits back.
"Well...hold my hand. Or something." Stan reaches out.
"Don't worry, I'm not going into dentistry." Kyle grabs his hand and moves over for his left side so he's not in Maya's way.
Stan squeezes Kyle's hand tightly. "Okay I'm ready again. Sorry."
"No problem." Maya continues to take off the bands. Soon they are all gone. She holds up the hook to show Kyle.
"That's crazy dude! So next up is the wire?" Kyle asks.
"Next, we're going to remove these brackets, and snip away at the wire. It will be even more satisfying to see this wire come loose. Watch." Maya gets to work with the tweezers and snipper.
After a moment Maya is able to have the wire come loose. It comes apart from the brackets glued to Stan's teeth.
"Look at that! I didn't realize it got pulled up in one go." Kyle says as Stan rolls his eyes.
"Okay now the standard cleaning and floss for him. Extra care since he's germ sensitive right now. Then Dr Steels will check, then Dr. Zephyr."
"Ugh." Stan closes his eyes and squeezes Kyle's hand. He did not want to get sick and end up back in the hospital from the fucking orthodontist. Stan's handshakes a bit at the thought.
Kyle looks down. "You all good, Stan?"
"I don't want to get an infection from this and end up back in the hospital." Stan says.
"That's why you're on antibiotics. But I'll be extra careful with your cleaning to make sure nothing is left behind. It's better to get it out of your mouth." Maya says.
Stan just inhales through his nose and squeezes Kyle's hand again. Trying to make his shaking stop.
"You've been through worse, Stan. This is just a simple dental cleaning. You're safe." Kyle tells him again.
"Don't remind me." Stan mumbles.
Maya hmmms as she cleans. "I'm seeing a little bit of buildup, but we'll clean that up today. due to your circumstances, you were hospitalized for quite some time so that's understandable."
"Yeah. I was in a coma for like…. six days. Even besides that I was too sick to really brush my teeth. I just don't feel clean." Stan says.
"When you deal with cleaning teeth does it get really messy?" Kyle asks
"As long as I have my goggles and apron then it isn't too bad. It's all about having good hand- eye coordination." Maya says as she starts to clean up.
Kyle smirks at Stan. "Is Stan the messiest you've seen?"
"Kyle, please. I'm stressed enough without your bullshit." Stan lays back, hands firmly clasped around the pillow. He feels his heart speed up in anxiety and tries to calm himself down.
"Sorry, I'm genuinely curious!" Kyle says.
"Stan is far from the worst. Okay Stan, I'm going to lean you back further. You tell me when it gets painful."
Stan shuts his eyes as he's leaned back on the chair. He blinks tears out of his eyes, the smell, lights, and bustling of the dental office is just like the hospital. "I'm sorry." He chokes out.
Maya puts a hand on his shoulder. "Stan? What's wrong? Need a break?"
Stan lifts his hands slightly seeing they are trembling. "I just get scared. The dentist reminds me of the hospital, and I go back to a bad place. I'm sorry, I'll try to be cool." He blinks again and feels a tear slide down his cheek. His heart feels like it's pounding now.
Maya pulls back for a second. "Did you want me to put something on the TV?"
"I don't know. it's just another dumb distraction. Sorry I'm like this." Stan holds a shaking hand out to Kyle.
Maya nods and picks up her instruments. She steps on the button on the floor to lower the chair again. "Tell me when to stop."
Stan grits his teeth as he feels himself going down down down. He's reminded of being pushed in a hospital bed, worried doctors and nurses around him. He feels his heart speed up again and a slight lightheadedness. "Ughghh." He closes his eyes. "Please don't let me die." Stan whispers.
Kyle looks down at Stan, concerned. "I won't. You're fine. Nothing is happening. Relax dude."
"This feels like they're wheeling me to the cardiac unit, and no one knew what was going on." More tears spill from his eyes. Stan's eyes snap open. "I'm sorry. I know I need to get this done."
Maya looks at both boys. "Deep breaths, Stan. In and out. I spoke with Dr Steels. He knows these are special circumstances so you can take all the time you need for this."
"I want it over with as quickly as possible. I couldn't really clean my teeth in the hospital, cus I was unconscious. Just start. Please." Stan takes a few breaths and squeezes Kyle's hand.
Maya starts to do a check of Stan's teeth. "If you had to guess, how many days was it that you weren't able to clean your teeth?"
"Six for sure for being unconscious. Once I got to the cardiac unit, I wasn't allowed to leave bed because of the stupid pacer. Then a few more days before they knocked me out the first time. Then after the cardioversion I was trying to wake up and was fine, brushed then…." Stan starts to cry now, the sheer number of days starting to run together in his mind. "Just take it as two weeks."
Maya nods and tries not to look to upset at this. "That's quite a while. I'll examine you, then report back to Dr Steels. He'll examine you again and if everything is good then you'll have a cleaning and adjustment be good to go!"
"You got this Stan." Kyle encourages. "You got this. A walk in the park compared to what you've been through recently."
"I don't want to think about it. I hate it." Stan wipes his eyes. "Please get it over with. I'm sorry I'm so pathetic."
Maya clicks the light on. "Okay Stan, open up for me, let me finish up."
Kyle squeezes Stan's hand. "I'm here. We won't let you down dude."
"I might let you down." Stan says before he opens his mouth. He hopes Maya or Kyle can't feel his weird fast pulse right now. It's just fucking nerves, calm down you baby before they call 911 and you worry everyone again.
Maya has her mirror and explorer ready. "Open up for me wider. I'll clean gently."
Stan opens his mouth and looks up, hoping he isn't too weird for the pretty dental hygienist. He can feel his breath coming in and out quickly. He squeezes Kyle's hand.
Maya smiles, as she cleans. "you're doing good so far sweetie. I'm going to use Mr. Thirsty to get some of your excess saliva while I look around."
"Uh huh." Stan closes his eyes and tries to will his body to chill the fuck out. "Ust gwet it overrrr witf." Stan rolled his eyes. At least his annoyance was calming his heart and body.
"I see a little build up in some areas, more so towards the back." Maya goes over to her tray and picks up a tool with a hooked end and notches on it. I'm just going to use this tool here to measure the areas of concern in your mouth to see what is going on
"Hey, squeeze my hand, Stan. That tool looks intimidating." Kyle says.
"Don't tell me that shit. Tell me some stupid joke or something." Stan snaps between Maya changing over her tools.
"Sorry, um, stupid joke stupid joke." Kyle thinks. "Oh! Why does Santa Claus have such a big sack?"
"Why?" Stan asks with his mouth open.
"Cuz he only comes once a year!" Kyle beams.
"Fuck you, Kyle." Stan chuckles and groans.
Maya shakes her head. Typical teenage boys. She moves the hooked end around Stan's gum line, taking measurements. "Three...three...two... hmmm, three."
"What? That doesn't sound good. I don't want a cavity after fucking heart surgery." He squeezes Kyle's hand more.
"Want another stupid joke, Stan?" Kyle asks.
"Sure, the stupider the better. Fuck I'm scared." Stan tries to calm himself down.
"Just focus on me dude. Okay, this one is good. What did one saggy boob say to the other?" Kyle says.
"What?"
Kyle starts laughing. "If we don't get some support, people will think we're nuts! Hahaha!"
"Hmmm, you think if a girl had heart surgery her boobs would be messed up after. Like…crooked?" Stan puts his other hand to his chest.
Kyle sits up again. "Damn do you think? I'm sure they know how to make it look natural with the scars."
"These scars do not look fucking natural." Stan complains.
"Boys please." Maya says, exasperated. "I'm not quite done yet."
"I dunno. I'm fucked up and don't have tits to worry about. Fuck…" he looks to Maya. "Sorry."
Maya makes a few more measurements and jots her findings on a chart. She then takes the hose and water to give him a quick rinse. "Have you been flossing regularly?"
"I haven't been doing anything regularly for like a month and a half." Stan sighs. "I know I need to, my mom's gonna kill me."
"Okay. Your gums are bleeding slightly but I'm going to rinse your mouth a little more here." Maya gives him a squirt of water and suctions it away.
"I'll do it. I will. Fuck. It hurts to even take a shower, but I will." Stan tells her. "Kyle? Why is everything so terrible and sucks ass?"
Maya turns the light off. "Done for now. I'm going to get Dr Steels. Did you want me to sit the chair back up, and Dr Steels will bring it back down, or leave it like this?"
"Up, please. It's too scary being on my back too long. Unless it's my own bed, not here." Stan says.
Maya sits the chair back up. "I'll be back soon. You two stay out of trouble."
"Now why would she say that?" Stan smirked at Kyle.
Kyle shrugs. "Beats me. I've been relatively cool and mature this entire time."
"Suuuure." Stan shifts his pillow slightly and hands it over to Kyle. "I shouldn't care but I don't want comments from my dentist that I'm holding a giant red heart pillow. I don't want to lose it and punch him or worse, cry in front of him."
Kyle puts a hand on his shoulder. "Stan, you do a good job holding yourself together. I wouldn't worry if I were you."
"I'm not, I mean. I just am not the same and this douche. Well, you know. He's my dad's friend but still." Stan puts on a stupid voice to mock his dentist. "Ur hur Stan get back on the football field, you have nothing else going on."
Kyle laughs. "If you need someone to punch him, ask me. I'm the one with nothing to lose."
"Who said I had something to lose? I just don't care anymore." Stan closes his eyes and hums a bit to try and make his nerves go down. "You can punch my pediatrician if you want. I want to throttle that guy."
Kyle crosses his arms now. "What did he do?"
"I've been seeing that asshole since I was a baby, and he couldn't tell I had a fucked-up heart? Fuck him. Seriously. David's mom is a better doctor than him and she works in a restaurant. Maybe I wouldn't have suffered as much." Stan sniffs but straightens up.
Kyle shrugs. "It's not like it was an easy defect to detect right? Good thing they found it now and not five years from now. Maybe it would have been worse by then."
"What can be worse than this?" Stan closes his eyes. "I just want to go home and sleep after this. No point in anything else."
Kyle thinks for a moment. "Hey, Stan?"
"What?"
"... what do a Rubix cube, and a penis have in common?"
"I don't know. Tell me."
"The more you play with it the harder it gets." Kyle let's out a little laugh.
Stan cracks a smile. "I love you you fucking dumbass. Thanks for that."
Kyle takes a bow. "At your service."
"I'm sorry I'll quit bitching and crying." Stan yawns. "But I could use a nap. When's that stupid dentist going to come?"
The beaded curtain is heard and the blond head of Aaron Steels pops in. "Stan! Hey there kiddo, how are you?"
Kyle smirks and steps back.
"I've been better." Stan opens his eyes to look at his dad's friend.
Aaron frowns. "I heard about what happened from your dad. I'm really sorry man. I'm kind of shocked that you went through that. they really didn't find anything wrong up until now?"
"Just attributed the symptoms to other minor stuff. It's hard to catch, right Kyle?" He looks at his best friend.
Kyle shrugs. "Yeah, that seems to be the case. Bad luck. But you're here, that's what matters."
Aaron looks over Stan's file on the computer. "I wish I would have known sooner, Stan. I would have come and visited you in the hospital."
Stan shook his head. "No, that's okay. It was bad. I didn't want visitors. I was really sick. I only really wanted my mom, best friend and girlfriend."
"Are you okay now? Your dad... love the guy but he's not always reliable with information, ha, I think we both can attest to that." Aaron asks.
Stan shrugs. "I'm not dead."
Aaron looks concerned. "How will this affect your football or baseball prospects? I know your dad told me you were on the fence already about what sports to try out for in high school."
Kyle snorts back a laugh.
"I don't know. People with heart conditions can't really play sports." Stan eyes Kyle trying to keep a serious face. "You don't want me to drop dead on the fifty-yard line. what if I was in the middle of a winning touchdown?"
Aaron nods. "True, we don't want that to happen, do we? Even if you might not want to do sports professionally it is still a good possibility to at least get a scholarship to college Stan."
Maya enters, frowning. She clears her throat. "Um, did you want to check out Stan now Doctor?"
Aaron turns around. "Oh! Right, ha, that's what I'm getting paid for isn't it? Not talk sports! Rats!" Snaps his fingers and laughs.
"Ugh." Stan rolls his eyes at Kyle, as the other boy tries to keep a straight face.
"Okay, I'm going to set you back now son... hey, that's a peculiar pillow you have there." Aaron grabs gloves and sits down.
"Dammit. Yeah." Stan says, preparing himself to be lowered.
"Is that to help you out with your post-surgery recovery?" Aaron asks, turning on the light as the chair goes back.
"Yeah, it is. You know about those pillows?" Stan braces himself as he's pulled back again.
Aaron smiles. "Yes, I 've actually seen a couple in my career so far in use."
"Oh, can you give it back to me, Kyle? I thought maybe you wouldn't want me to hold it. I know I'm supposed to be a tough jock, right? Not someone scared of having their chest touched." Stan says.
Aaron looks troubled. "Stan, I never want you to feel that way in front of me. My own father." He composes himself for a second. "The more a man feels he needs to prove his manliness the more of a coward he is."
"I'm a big fucking coward. I'm scared all the time now about my heart." Stan says, grabbing the pillow from Kyle.
Aaron adjusts the light. "I'm sorry, Stan. I'll do anything at all to help you. Now squeeze your pillow as hard as you can, one last little adjustment. Don't want to hurt you."
"Don't touch my chest. I'm in a lot of pain. I'm only here because I couldn't take care of my teeth in the hospital." Stan says again.
"I'll be extra careful Stan." Aaron grabs his own mirror and explorer. "Maya tells me it's been roughly two weeks since you cleaned your teeth properly. Is that right?"
"Yeah, I was in a coma for a bit and then too sick to do anything really." Stan sighs and closes his eyes, tired.
"Okay... a little wider for me... good. I ask this Stan because you do have some buildup that I see. Maya was measuring to see if you have early signs of periodontitis."
"Of course, I do." Stan sighs, defeated. "What's that? Will it hurt me?"
"Not if we tackle it right away. It just means you have the early stages of gum disease, but it is very very treatable." Aaron set his tools back. "You have some pockets that are a bit inflamed with plaque build-up, understandable since you haven't been able to brush your teeth. Any pocket deeper than three needs to be treated. And you have a few threes, with two fours in your top left."
"What's the treatment?" Stan reaches out for Kyle's hand.
Aaron smiles as he shuts off the light. "It's called a deep cleaning. What we do is go and scale and polish your teeth really really well in a more thorough manner than your typical cleaning. We numb the mouth up and get all those deep pockets of plaque before they become a problem and develop into actual cavities.
"You're…. gonna do that now?" Stan asks, afraid.
Aaron nods and gets to his feet. "I will tell your mother and we will be all set to begin. Maya here will do the majority of the work; I'll just be numbing your mouth up and checking in now and again."
"No." Stan sits up. "No, I just had surgery and you're making me do this shit? No, please give me some time. It's hard to just lay in a chair." Stan can't help it as he starts to cry, he feels his pulse raise again.